RALLY NEWS NO.2
Service – Saturday 10.30am
UNOFFICIAL INT. LEADERBOARD AFTER
STAGE 1 St.Angelo
1ST (1) Derek
McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.22.9
2ND (4) Andrew
Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.24.1
3RD (3) Austin
MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.26.0
(8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon
Noble (Impreza WRC) 1.26.0
5TH (5) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 1.27.0
6TH (2) Eugene
Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.27.8
Last year’s winner, Derek McGarrity,
certainly got off on the right foot through the opening stage, St.
Angelo. All the drivers reported it to be slippy in the extreme, and
many had problems. Tim McNulty spun his Subaru, Maurice Gass had a
massive spin and slightly damaged the front corner of his Impreza
WRC, so much so there was steam coming out. Eugene Donnelly
described the stage as “a bit mad”. Roy White slid his new Lancer
into a slurry pit, but only lost a few seconds. Aaron MacHale in an
almost identical new Lancer was off for quite a long time. Garry
Jennings was the fastest of the GpN drivers through with 1.31.4.
Colm Murphy was 1.32.8. Roy White 1.39.9. Some further times –
Peadar Hurson 1.44.0. Tim McNulty in the Pierse Construction S10
1.33.2. Maurice Gass 1.45.2. Seamus Leonard 1.33.7. Gareth Jones
on his first run in a WRC Impreza 1.29.7. Sean Devine 1.31.3.
EASTER STAGES UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER
STAGE 2
1st (302) Glenn
Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 8.48.3
2nd (308) David
Armstrong/Fabian McShane (Impreza WRC) 9.00.02
3rd (305) Raymond
Johnson/Richard Bell (Impreza WRC) 9.03.09
4th (313) Terry
McGonigle/Sean Harris (Lancer N) 9.04.03
5th (309) Dickie
Curran/Gary (Bloke) Lyons (Impreza WRC) 9.05.1
6th (303) Denis
Biggerstaff/Damian McCann (Impreza WRC) 9.08.08
7th (315) Neil
McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 9.19.6
8th (317) Gary
Cairns/Justin Coyle (Lancer N) 9.20.2
9th (311) Martin
Elliott/Brian Crawford (Lancer N) 9.21.7
10th (306) Craig
Bennett/Roger Bennett (Focus WRC) 9.27.0
It was an unhappy start to the Easter
Stages for No.1 seed Kieran Shaw, his lancer engine again
misbehaving, revving its head off, making the car almost impossible
to drive. Kieran spun about 5 times on the opening stage, and feels
if the mechanics cannot fix it here, there is no point in going on.
Fastest then was No.2 seed Glenn Allen, Glenn telling us that he is
still bedding himself in to his new acquired Corolla WRC, getting
comfortable. David Armstrong was 2nd fastest, David
happy enough with his time considering he hasn’t done a rally since
Sligo last year. Raymond Johnson was 3rd, despite a 6th
gear slide, reckoned he had too hard a tyre, and the stages are
pretty greasy anyway with early morning dew. Terry McGonigle was
quite a surprise to lead Group N with a couple of brilliant times to
hold 4th overall. Dickie Curran is having his first run
in a WRC car and said. “I’m keeping it safe, but finding it
horrible”. Denis Biggerstaff rounds off the top half dozen, the
Kinallen man saying “I was pure rubbish, had a spin at the first
corner and lost confidence, a school report would say “must do
better”, nobody to blame but myself”.
Further stories include –
Craig Bennett stalled his Focus WRC twice in stage 2, once at the
start line and once at the hairpin. Gary White started in the top
10 but has disappeared. Whereabouts at present unknown, no obvious
holes in the hedges!! Cahal Arthurs didn’t start. John McGlaughlin
finished the stage with his Lancer brakes on fire. Neil McCance
joked “First excuse is, the car is weighted down with packets of
Lockets!” Martin Howley made a cautious start, driving David
Armstrong’s old Escort WRC for the first time. Eoin McErlain
finished just off the leaderboard with a time of 9.37.7, his first
time in a lhd Lancer. In the 2 wheel drive category F. Wray (342)
had a good run to record 9.26.1. Ronan Curley did 9.28.9. Alistair
Cochrane 9.36.9. Seamus O’Connell did 9.37.3. Jeremy
Taylor/Jonathan in the Raymond Mason GpN Impreza running at No.347
have texted us to say that they are at the start of stage 2 and it
is “interrupted”.
Some more times (4wd): John
McGlaughlin 9.27.7. Stephen Moore 9.29.9. Rodney Wallace 9.42.3.
Eddie Quinn 9.49.9.
More news to follow: BRIAN
& LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Michael
Patterson)
